Brisbane teenager Selwyn Cobbo has been backed by NRL teammate Kotoni Staggs to handle the State of Origin stage as the 19-year-old's case to be a Queensland bolter builds momentum.
Maroons coach Billy Slater will name his team on Monday for the June 8 series opener in Sydney, with Cobbo firmly in the discussion after his electric start to the 2022 season.
Despite having played just 18 first-grade games, Cobbo's nine-try haul in Brisbane's recent five-game winning run has put him firmly on Slater's radar.
After a hat-trick in the 38-0 Magic Round mauling of Manly, Cobbo added a double to continue his hot form as the Broncos smashed Newcastle 36-12 last Friday at McDonald Jones Stadium.
With North Queensland confirming on Monday that winger Kyle Feldt is out for six weeks with a medial collateral ligament tear, the queue for spots in the Queensland backline is shortening.
Feldt played the first two Origins for Queensland last season before Cowboys teammate Valentine Holmes and Melbourne's Xavier Coates lined up as the Maroons' wingers in game three.
Coates is a front-runner for one of the wing positions when Queensland's team is revealed next week but with Holmes making a successful move to centre with the Cowboys this season, Slater has some thinking ahead of him.
He could obviously retain Holmes on the wing, while Cobbo's Brisbane teammate Corey Oates has also made a fine return to his best form in 2022.
Cowboys duo Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and Murray Taulagi are also contenders but Staggs, who himself is pushing for a maiden NSW call-up, said he knew where his choice would go if he was a Maroons selector.
'You see what he does every week and it's not a fluke," Staggs said.
"He keeps doing everything exactly the same every single week and if he gets called up, I think he'd be the person that I'd put on a wing.
"He steps up in bigger games. I'd say he's ready."
Australian Associated Press
